Chapter 187 Buddha's Light Remains in Armor, Monk Blesses

Western Xia.

This country is actually not unknown.

Of course, from the beginning to now, Western Xia has never become a superpower.

But the surrounding countries have been paying attention to this place.

There is no other reason, it’s because of the region where Xixia is located.

Hexi Corridor of the Song Dynasty.

The earth connects east and west, and links north and south.

Anyone who knows a little about military affairs can see the importance of this place.

You can see it from the map.

To the north of Western Xia was the Liao Kingdom, to the southwest was Tubo, to the east was the Song Dynasty, and to the west was the Beimang Kingdom.

It can be said that this place is a gap between countries.

Just a quick look at the map shows how difficult it is to stay and survive here.

The reason why Xixia was able to gain a foothold here.

There are many reasons for this.

The first is the outstanding ability of the founding emperor Li Yuanhao.

The Song army was defeated in succession after success.

He also defeated the Liao army in the Battle of Hequ.

They defeated the Song and Liao countries successively and gained a firm foothold here.

Of course, if that were all, it would not be enough to save Western Xia.

After all, neither the Song nor the Liao were willing to sit idly by and watch the Western Xia grow and become stronger.

As for the Song Dynasty, they did not want to see another foreign country emerge around them that would grow from weak to strong and pose a threat to them.

The Liao Kingdom could have surrounded the Song Dynasty from two directions, from the north to the west.

Moreover, it can go south and connect with the various Tibetan tribes.

However, the sudden rise of Western Xia not only cut off this connection, but also directly threatened the Liao homeland.

It is said that the Liao and Song countries had secretly begun to unite and prepare to work together to destroy the Western Xia.

Although Li Yuanhao of Western Xia was a good fighter, Western Xia was still a newly established country and was definitely not as good as the two big countries in terms of resources and war potential.

But it is obvious that as the situation changes, luck is still on the side of Xixia.

The Jurchen tribe of the Jin Dynasty suddenly emerged and forced the Liao Dynasty to retreat thousands of miles.

The territory that originally occupied the northern part of the Song Dynasty was constantly shrinking and retreated to the northwest corner.

The Song Dynasty also had half of its territory destroyed, and even the two emperors Huizong and Qinzong were captured.

It can be said that the sudden rise of the Jin Dynasty gave Western Xia a chance to catch its breath.

Of course, the Jin Dynasty itself was unable to enjoy its glory for several years.

Before they could complete their strategy of swallowing up Liao and destroying Song, they were faced with a terrible disaster, the Mongols.

Moreover, compared with the Jin Dynasty, the huge Mongols were undoubtedly much more ferocious.

It can be said that in the eastern part of Kyushu, none of the countries bordering the Mongols were unaffected.

On the contrary, it was Western Xia that gained a rare opportunity for stability because of the Mongols.

The Three Kingdoms of Song, Jin and Liao were busy facing threats from the north and had no time to care about him.

The Beimang in the west has always been keeping an eye on Liyang. In addition, it also has to consider the threat from the Mongols, so it has always adopted a conciliatory approach towards the Western Xia.

This is also the reason why Xixia has lived a relatively stable life for so many years.

However, although the situation was stable for Western Xia, they did not achieve much development.

The gap zone is not easy to expand in. Other major powers will not focus their attention on it, but they will certainly not sit idly by and watch it develop.

If we expand blindly, we will definitely be attacked by all countries.

The second point is that after Li Yuanhao, although Western Xia also produced several famous generals, in terms of sharpness and courage, no one could compare with this founding monarch.

Therefore, compared with the past, the territory of Western Xia not only did not expand, but shrunk a lot.

Of course, no one dares to underestimate this country.

No matter what, the entire country of Western Xia can still gather tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of elite soldiers, as well as the Iron Harriers, the military soul unit created by Li Yuanhao himself.

If they really fight for their life, it is definitely a terrifying force.

Therefore, for several neighboring countries, Western Xia is a hedgehog with thorns all over its body and difficult to deal with.

Of course, there is more than one person coveting the fertile land of Hexi.

But the strength of Xixia is not weak, and it will take too much energy to defeat them.

After all, if too many sacrifices were made on Xixia, there was a high possibility that they would lose sight of the big picture and be taken advantage of by the surrounding enemies.

But now, this hedgehog, which has existed for many years and caused headaches for neighboring countries, has encountered huge trouble.

The smoke of war was billowing and the rain of blood was pouring down.

It stretches from west to east, and everything you see is almost a ruin.

The thick smell of blood almost enveloped the entire earth.

Looking up, there was a huge banner covering the sky and the sun, as if it was pressing down on everyone's heads.

There is no pattern on the flag, only a word "Gao" that looks like a sword or a knife.

As the blood rose, the characters on the flag seemed to be stained with a layer of blood-red light.

As the wind blows.

Above the big banner, waves are rising and rising continuously.

It looked like a blood-red sky was pressing down on the entire Western Xia.

"Boom, boom, boom!"

The sound of horse hooves like thunder resounded over the earth.

On the east and west sides, two black and white torrents roared forward.

Looking from above, it looks like two giant yin and yang fish swimming back and forth on the boundless land.

However, the aura emanating from the Yin-Yang Fish at this moment was not the peaceful and tranquil aura seen in the Taoist Tai Chi diagram, but a murderous aura that soared into the sky.

Under the big banner, a figure sat astride a horse.

His eyes were like knives, staring indifferently ahead.

And on the land ahead, the billowing smoke and dust had almost completely covered everything in sight.

Obviously, this was a thrilling battle.

The thunderous shouts and cries of killing were enough to pierce everyone's eardrums.

Beside Gao Changsheng, Lieutenant General Li had been fulfilling his duties conscientiously, waiting by the side and not rushing onto the battlefield.

However, he was obviously not needed in this war.

In the eyes of ordinary people, there is a terrible thing ahead - a legion war.

But in the eyes of generals like them who have experienced fighting on the battlefield.

The scene before us might be more appropriately described as a massacre rather than a war.

Li Shimin, Yang Xuangan, and two cavalry units on the left and right have completely surrounded the enemy.

Li Jing and Lai Huer, who had recovered from his injury, cut in from the middle.

The enemy forces have been completely divided.

In the eyes of Lieutenant General Li, the Xixia army, which was roaring and struggling hard, was just struggling in its death throes.

"Kill, kill, kill."

The sun moves slowly across the sky, its sunlight penetrates through layers of obstacles and falls on the earth.

Under the blowing of strong wind, the smoke and dust were slowly dissipating.

The originally fierce shouting and screaming finally faded away.

"Rack, rack, rack."

The fierce sound of horse hooves approached rapidly.

"Marshal, the enemy has been completely wiped out. This is Helian Tieshu's head, cut off by me personally."

Yang Xuangan spoke with a smile, and glanced at Li Shimin while speaking.

The meaning is naturally self-evident.

The two had been competing with each other before when they were defending Wang Sui in Liaozhou.

Now that Yang Xuangan had personally killed the enemy commander of Western Xia, he had undoubtedly won the battle.

He no longer had any desire to compare himself with Gao Changsheng, but it was obvious that he was not willing to be weaker than Li Shimin.

"Great, keep going."

Gao Changsheng waved his hand.

"Marshal, there are so many corpses on the battlefield?" Lieutenant General Li hesitated.

"Someone will come to clean it up." Gao Changsheng didn't even raise his eyelids, just snorted.

"Marshal, our army has won victory after victory, and has captured more than a dozen cities of Western Xia. Now we have completely wiped out the Western Xia reinforcements. We are only one step away from Xingqing Prefecture. Why don't we lead our troops to capture this city and destroy Western Xia in one fell swoop?" Yang Xuangan said excitedly.

"No, I think that instead of attacking Xingqing Prefecture, it is better to surround it without attacking it. That is their capital. Once it is surrounded by our army, the troops from other places will definitely rush back to support it."

"Our army will first surround the point and destroy the reinforcements. By then, only Xingqing will be left as an isolated city, and our army can slowly clean it up."

Li Shimin proposed another strategy.

However, there was some excitement in his words.

After all, if we go one step further, the country will be destroyed.

Xixia is not easy to deal with. Several people had expected that this would be a tough battle.

But unexpectedly, although there was a lot of resistance along the way, we did not encounter too much difficulty.

More than a dozen cities were captured, which was almost half of the territory of Western Xia.

The most important thing is that they are very close to Xingqingfu, the capital of Xixia. Faced with this situation, they are of course excited.

However, in addition to the excitement, a doubt arose in the minds of several people.

Why did the famous Iron Harriers of Western Xia never appear from beginning to end?

Could it be placed in the imperial city?

The rest of the troops were destroyed one after another, so why didn't the Western Xia emperor send out the strongest troops? If all the troops were annihilated and only one Iron Harrier was left, even if they had a military spirit, what waves could they make?

Without exception, there was a gleam of doubt in the eyes of Li Shimin and others.

The Military Soul Force is indeed powerful, just like a warrior breaking through from a grandmaster to becoming a terrestrial immortal.

They are completely different from ordinary troops and cannot be compared at all.

It has long been recognized that on the battlefield, a military soul unit can determine the direction of the war.

However, war on the battlefield and fighting between warriors are completely different after all.

War is the art of command and the art of teamwork.

The Military Soul Corps is indeed powerful, but if there is only one Military Soul Corps, its great power will be limited.

For commanders, the military soul troops are an extremely important weight in the war, but they must not be the only weight.

If all wings are lost, even the military soul troops will be alone and powerless.

Just like the previous Battle of Xiangyang, even with the Beiwei Army, Guo Jing still couldn't avoid being at a disadvantage everywhere.

That happened with the cooperation of the Xiangyang defenders and the Xiangyang formation.

Therefore, the situation in Western Xia at this time was extremely unreasonable.

If the Western Xia army had the cooperation of the Iron Harriers in the previous battle, they would not have won so easily even if they did not use other strategies and only used the Iron Harriers as the spearhead.

But from beginning to end, this strongest force of Western Xia never showed up.

To them, this was an incomprehensible failure.

However, Li Shimin and others did not know that when they invaded Western Xia and defeated the Xia army one after another.

In another place, two armies were confronting each other.

The southwestern border area of ​​Western Xia.

Ahead is the endless snowy plateau.

A group of heavily armored cavalrymen, dressed in armor and full of murderous intent, are about to charge.

It was the Western Xia Iron Harriers that Li Shimin and others had been on guard against.

And several thousand meters ahead of the Iron Harriers, there was also a troop.

But at first glance, this army gives people an extremely strange feeling.

As we all know, the army represents killing.

Any troop, no matter how strong or weak it is, will always carry some murderous aura.

But the cavalry stationed in front of the Iron Harriers at this time did not have any similar aura.

There were constant flashes of inconspicuous light on the armor, and his face looked peaceful.

They don't look like soldiers, but rather like believers and monks walking out of a Buddhist temple.

"You led troops to invade our border without any reason. What do you Tibetans want to do? Do you want to start a war?"

In front of the Iron Harrier, a burly man wearing heavy armor shouted loudly.

The two neighboring countries of Xixia and Tubo have always been wary of each other.

However, there have not been any major conflicts over the years.

Of course both countries have ambitions, but both have their own problems.

The Tubo Kingdom was once extremely powerful.

But due to various reasons, it has been going downhill for many years.

Even the originally unified country showed a tendency to split into various tribes and was simply unable to deploy military forces on a large scale.

The situation of Western Xia was also there. Especially since Tubo was located in a high position, they had no ability to use military force against this country.

Therefore, there has always been peace between the two countries.

But some time ago, Xixia suddenly received news.

Tubo suddenly sent troops to attack the border of Western Xia, with the intention of invading Western Xia in one fell swoop.

If it were other troops, Xixia would not be so nervous.

After all, Tubo and Xixia are now about the same in strength, and a mere few thousand or ten thousand cavalry cannot cause much damage to Xixia.

But it was obvious that the troops sent by Tubo were not ordinary troops.

"Amitabha, why do you say that, General Weiming? Our army has not entered the territory of Western Xia. We are only here to patrol the border and have no intention of starting a war." A peaceful voice sounded.

"Humph."

"As expected of the Tibetan national teacher, he is really eloquent."

General Xixia shouted coldly.

Weiming is the surname of the Xixia royal family. He can also command the Iron Harriers, the strongest force of Xixia. This person is certainly not incompetent.

"What a great border patrol."

"The Buddha's light casts armor, the monks bless you, and for a simple inspection, you actually used the Tibetan Buddha armor cavalry. Do you think I'm a fool?"

"Jiumozhi, what do you Tubo want to do? If you want to start a war, just say it directly. We, Xixia, will accompany you." The Xixia general shouted angrily, and all the Iron Harriers even drew their weapons.

"Amitabha."

Another Buddhist chant was heard.

The one riding in front, on a white horse, was none other than Jiumozhi with his hair tied in a bun.

Behind him, there was a general in armor.

But at this time the general was looking at Jiumozhi with a strange expression.

"Amitabha, monks do not tell lies. I have already said this, and I have no intention of offending you."

"If General Weiming doesn't believe me, our army can retreat one mile."

After saying that, Jiumozhi turned around and saluted the general behind him: "Thank you for your help, General."

The general opened his mouth, then slowly waved his hand.

Compared with the Tibetan general's hesitation to speak, the Xixia general Weiming was obviously completely furious.

He is also a general who has fought on the battlefield for many years.

He had heard of retreating ten, twenty, thirty, dozens or even a hundred miles on the battlefield.

But I have never seen the troops retreating one mile.

For cavalrymen with military spirit, a one-mile area can be solved with just a charge.

It can be said that this practice is like taking off your pants to fart.

From the rising and falling chest of the Xixia general, it can be seen how angry he is at this moment.

In his opinion, the other party's behavior was no different from teasing.

But at this moment, he had no choice.

After all, the other party did not invade his territory, so he did not dare to attack at will.

The outbreak of war between the two military soul forces is no joke. It is basically equivalent to an outright war between the two countries. At least he does not have that much power.

But the Buddhist cavalry on the opposite side were loitering right in front of him, and the Iron Harrier obviously could not retreat at will.

"National Master, you..."

The Tibetan general looked at Jiumozhi and said.

Although Jiumozhi is the national teacher, he does not have such a high status and does not have the ability to command the Buddhist Cavalry. The general in front of him is the real commander of the Buddhist Cavalry.

"General, rest assured. I will not engage in war with Xixia. I am just passing through here."

Hearing this, the general couldn't help but roll his eyes.

Although Jiumozhi had a strong position in Tubo, he was obviously unable to mobilize the Buddhist cavalry.

The reason why Jiumozhi was able to persuade the Tubo king this time was because he raised a big banner.

The ancestral temple of Nyingma, Gaden Monastery.

Tubo worships Buddhism, and the most powerful sect here is the Nyingma school of Tantric Buddhism.

It is also the true sect of Jiumozhi. In fact, this is also the reason why Jiumozhi became the national teacher.

This also shows the status of Gaden Monastery in Tubo.

It is said that the soul of Tubo's military force, the Buddha Cavalry, was created by a high monk from Gaden Monastery by integrating the art of war.

So when Jiumozhi entered the palace and said that Gaden Monastery was in trouble, the Tubo king sent out the Buddhist cavalry without hesitation.

But he never expected that Jiumozhi, with him and the Buddhist Cavalry, would go directly to the border as soon as they left the royal capital and confront the Western Xia Iron Harriers.

With Buddha Armor riding beside him, he was not afraid of the Iron Harrier, and at the moment both sides obviously had no intention of fighting a big battle.

He was just surprised by the behavior of the national teacher.

He deceived the king, mobilized the Buddhist cavalry, and even used Gaden Monastery as an excuse.

And the other party did all this just to take the Buddha Armor Cavalry for a stroll here.

Being able to command the Buddhist Cavalry, his status is naturally not low, and as someone who has led troops for many years, he also considers himself not a timid person.

But at this moment, he couldn't help but be shocked by Jiumozhi's audacity.

"National Master, you don't have to worry..."

The generals did not fall out with Jiumozhi. After all, he was following the orders of the king, and the troops did not suffer any losses. Besides, Jiumozhi was the direct descendant of Gaden Monastery.

"Amitabha, don't worry, General."

Jiumozhi smiled, but did not explain in detail to the other party. He just hummed in his heart:

"I am not lying. When General Gao gives the things to me, not only my master, but even the ancestors will stand up for me."

"Amitabha."

Thinking of this, Jiumozhi's eyes began to shine.

(End of this chapter)